You Betcha: Week 17

Back in August I started with a mythical bankroll of $10,000, courtesy of Bodog Online Gaming. First of all, because their site is easy to navigate. Second, because they're based in Costa Rica and have had minimal success tracking me down in the past.

I was to analyze games of local interest each weekend and make a wager every Friday. With any luck, by Christmas it was going to be toys for everyone.

Welp, Christmas is here. The fortune? Eh, notsomuch.

Or, is it merely still en route?

We didn't come here to lose. Nor did we show up to play conservative. At 7-9 and down $2,500 for the season I could cut my losses, take solace in the entertainment and go home a lower-case loser.

Or - you knew that was coming, din't you? - we could make one last grasp at the females on Ferraris.

Bust or boon, here we come.

The play here to me is clearly Cowboys-Ravens under the 39 1/2 points. No way these teams combine for five touchdowns. More like five points.

Baltimore will try to suck the intensity out of Texas Stadium's frenzied farewell by running the ball, punting the ball and rarely letting rookie quarterback Joe Flacco throw the ball. And we all know how sporadic the Cowboys' offense is.

Unless these two superior defenses directly produce points, I see a 13-10 game. How clearly do I see it?

We're betting the whole kit-'n-kaboodle. $7,500. A winner and we have $5,000 in profit to blow on Christmas and I get to say "toldja so". A loss and, well, I'll need George Bailey's generous friends.